Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen
This summer our 12-year-old started a book club with her friends. I expected them to settle on something more fantastical–maybe Brandon Mull or Jessica Day George. Instead, they chose a more serious-looking story, Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen, about a young girl in Lithuania in the late 1800s. I was intrigued and decided to try it for myself.
It was a time when Russia occupied and dominated the country, repressing their culture in an effort to make them integrate into the Russian Empire. Audra’s parents live quietly and keep her secluded, whispering secrets to each other. Then one day, the Cossacks come to arrest her parents, and Audra’s world changes forever. She will have to adapt, to find courage, and to decide whether to resist or to only survive.
Despite the simplicity of the story, I found myself enjoying the adventure. There’s something refreshing about seeing the conflict of freedom versus oppression through the eyes of a young person. None of the grey complexities of the world are here, and it is clear who is good and who is bad, and set against a world where the values defended are literacy, knowledge, faith, and, well, books.
And you know how I feel about books and their importance to the mind, the soul, and to our culture.
It’s a good read, appropriate to kick off a 12-year-old’s book club. You might suggest it to your tweenager’s book club with some amount of confidence that it’ll be both on point and satisfying.
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